Constipation SOS – Why do babies & children get bunged-up?

Constipation can be the most painful experience for a baby or young child – it is amazing how grumpy and unsettled a child can get when they are bunged up – and once they have finally passed a poo their mood can switch in a heartbeat and they can be back to their cheery happy self.
Up to about a third of children can get constipated at some time during their early years and around 40% develop symptoms during their first year of life which can persist for a long time. Paediatric wards have even had to open specialist constipation clinics to cope with the vast volumes of constipated kids. A vast £162 million was spent by NHS England on treating constipation in both adults and children in 2017-18, £91 million of which was spent on laxatives!
Some people say it’s ok for a breastfed baby not to poo very often, but over the years I have found that these babies are better settled once they are pooing every day. Ideally a baby would be having 1 to 3 dirty nappies a day.
The gut problems can often start when changing from breast milk to formula or when the baby is weaned onto solid food. If the symptoms are temporary, then that’s OK, as it is simply the baby’s tummy adjusting to the dietary changes. However, if it goes on more than a couple of weeks then this might be a sign that the baby is not tolerating the new milk or a specific food that well. Baby rice and white flour are quite constipating, and this is one of the main reasons I don’t recommend these for young babies.
Constipation can also kick in when a child is potty training between the ages of two and four years of age – many little ones are reluctant to poo in a potty and they often wait until they are wearing a nappy do their number two’s – often hiding in a corner to do it privately in their nappy. If this happens the golden rule is not to make a fuss as this will add a layer of stress and ingrain the behaviour even further. In time and if the poo is soft enough/comfortable to pass, they will be happy to do it in the potty or loo.
Constipation can also develop when kids start at school in reception as the child can be too shy to “go”, at school and will try to hold on for later – this can then make it harder and more painful to pass and thus setting up a negative association with passing a bowel movement.
Many children with constipation continue to have bowel problems as teenagers and adults. Since only 60 per cent of constipated children are successfully treated with laxatives, many still have lingering horrible symptoms as teenagers and adults which affects them every day.
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These can be standalone symptoms or found collectively together:
- Two or less bowel movements a week
- Bowel movements that are hard, dry and difficult to pass
- Stools are small and pebble like – also described as rabbit droppings or conkers
- History of excessive stool retention
- Large-diameter stools (bulky elephant poos…)
- Slim-diameter stools (thin finger-thickness snake like poos…)
- Abdominal pain & discomfort before or when passing a stool
- Excess bloating
- Strong smelling gas or wind
- Urgency (rushing to the loo)
- Straining
- Incomplete stool evacuation
- Soiling and incontinence (known as encopresis)
When constipation becomes an ingrained pattern then it can really affect a child’s appetite as their little intestines can get blocked with so much old poo. Again, so many parents report that their bunged-up child with a tiny appetite is suddenly ravenous once they have done a number two. It makes sense as suddenly they feel more comfortable and there is now a little more space for food! If this happens quite regularly then they may be more bunged up than you think.
We learnt the hard way going through horrendous constipation with our eldest when he was a toddler (even though his tummy and poo were always soft – yes soft constipation really does exist!) and the final straw was when he started gagging and throwing up his food – we took him to A and E who carried out an X-ray to find he was extremely impacted and there was a blockage of poo the size of a small melon in his bowel. OUCH!!
It took us ages to clear his bowel entirely and to get his bowel unstretched so that he did not get backed up again. The prescribed laxatives were great at the start, but we realised quite quickly that they were not addressing the root cause and I knew instinctively that he needed more support to help him to gain 100% bowel control. So, I went on a bit of a mission to try and fix this as potty training was also proving very hard at that point too! I have over the years developed some clever strategies to help address a long term sluggish painful bowel and this has kept our clinic very busy.
Why Do Kids Gets Constipated?
There are many factors contributing to why a child might get constipated and here are some of the key reasons that may help you to be your child’s detective and get a better understanding why they are struggling so much to pass regular stools:
Antibiotics – babies who have been exposed to antibiotics directly or via their mother’s breast milk can become more constipated than those who have not taken antibiotics. This is because their gut microbiome has taken a big hit from the antibiotics and it can take time for the beneficial gut microbes to repopulate, especially before the baby is weaned onto solid food. If you or your baby need to take antibiotics, then consider adding in a lactobacillus rich probiotic for at least 6 weeks afterwards.
Mum’s microbiome – if mum’s gut microbes are depleted when pregnant or breastfeeding from taking antibiotics or proton pump inhibitors for reflux (omeprazole) then they may not pass on a diverse enough gut microbiome to their baby. Eating too many highly processed or “beige” refined foods (made from white flour or foods containing refined sugar) can contribute to creating a gut environment that allows stool to harden and dry up. To remedy this mum can eat cultured and fermented foods as well as fruit, vegetables, salads, nuts, seeds and pulses and the baby can do the same once they are weaned onto solids at around 6 months. Again, consider a lactobacillus probiotic to top up and there are specialist probiotic strains that can be given to mum and baby from birth.
Lack of prebiotics – Breast milk naturally contains prebiotics, however the amount of prebiotic in the breast milk very much depends on mum’s diet and their own microbiome. If your baby is formula-fed, then most baby infant milk formulas do contain Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) which are prebiotics akin to breast milk and derived from cow’s milk. They are added to the formula to help to feed the gut microbiome and to help digest milk, but sometimes this is not enough for the baby and other prebiotic and probiotic strains are needed to top things up. GOS is not added to every infant milk formula and the ones that do not contain GOS include Holle and Nannycare as well as some specialist formulas like Hipp Anti Reflux, Kendamil Medi+ and Aptamil Lactose Free. GOS is also not added to hypoallergenic formulas such as Nutrimigen LGG, Neocate and SMA Alfamino.
When you start weaning onto solid foods then you have the chance to feed your baby prebiotic rich foods such as bananas, apples, berries, barley, garlic, onions and leeks. See my weaning cookbook I Can’t Believe It’s Baby Food to find plenty of recipes containing these prebiotic foods. The best prebiotic supplement for babies and toddlers that we have found is Partially Hydrolysed Guar Gum (PHGG) which is super gentle on the developing gut and is suitable for those on the Low FODMAP diet or with overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine (SIBO). Research had found it also reduces abdominal pain. PHGG has been found to cause less flatulence than lactulose, is tasteless and dairy free.
Need for probiotics – The two specific strains of probiotic that have been found to help constipation in children are lactobacillus (which you can consume in live yoghurt, kefir and other cultured foods) as well as bacillus coagulans which was trialled by a group of 141 children aged 4-12 with painful tummies and difficulty passing stool. In 8 weeks, those children taking the bacillus coagulans probiotic had a considerable reduction in abdominal discomfort, pain intensity, bloating, urgency, straining, incomplete stool evacuation and soiling. Diet-wise you can find bacillus coagulans strains in kimchi, sauerkraut and some live yoghurts.
Hypermobility & low muscle tone – Babies and children with low muscle tone, hypermobile joints and related collagen disorders such as Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) often have gut motility issues (I always say bendy on the outside-bendy on the inside) and can suffer from constipation more easily. This is something to work on in the longer term and I do advise one to one support from our paediatric clinical team.
Mast cell activation – We are increasingly seeing babies and toddlers in our clinic with mast cell activation (multiple non-classic IgE allergies) who are struggling with constipation. Histamine and other allergies can make the whole system quite dehydrated and gut motility slow, and this in turn can lead to harder to pass stools. Again, this needs to be assessed by a well experienced practitioner.
Gut amoeba – there are some very common and pesky gut amoeba that children can pick up from siblings, other children in nursery and school or when travelling abroad. The ones we often find in the stool tests that we run are Dientamoeba fragilis and Blastocystis hominis and usually do no harm. However, they can contribute to constipation and irritable bowel in some children and adults.
Too much milk – In 2020 some research on child constipation found that a key reason why children get constipated is that they drink too much milk and eat too much dairy. Once a child is over 12 months they only really need to drink the equivalent of two cups of milk a day, so if your little one is consuming more and is getting constipated then swap any extra milk drunk to water.
Dehydration – Many children simply do not drink enough water and it’s important to encourage the habit of drinking water from an early age – babies up to 12 months only need half to one cup of water in a day (best served at mealtimes) and 2-5 year olds can build up to one cup of water per year of life – 2 cups a day for two year olds and 5 cups of water a day for a five year old.
Higher magnesium need – Magnesium is responsible for 400 functions in the body and helps to bowel muscles to stay toned and encourages peristalsis. You find magnesium in oily fish, nuts, seeds, green veg, pulses, buckwheat, cocoa, avocado and banana. Adding Epsom salts or magnesium flakes to the bath is soothing on the tummy and a child absorbs the magnesium in the bath water through the skin
Not enough fruit & veg – five a day should be minimum once you have got into the swing of weaning. Not only do the fruit and veg provide extra hydration, but they also contain important fibre to feed the gut microbiome. If you have a constipated child then do your best to step up their intake of fruit and vegetables every day.
Not enough fibre – Butyrate is the primary source of energy for our colon cells and it important for gut motility and can help to reduce pain in functional constipation. It decreases gut and systemic chronic inflammation and inhibits histamine production which is associated with allergies and mast cell activation. Butyrate is fed by fibre as well as butter and ghee. The best foods to provide fibre for little ones are apple, prunes, figs, apricots, kiwi fruits, papaya, mango, flax seeds (linseeds), chia and hemp seeds.
A sluggish bowel can have complex origins and can be difficult to manage – if you would like to speak to one of our paediatric nutrition team about how to get to the root cause of your little one’s sore tummies and straining then we would love to hear from you.
References
- Functional Constipation and the Gut Microbiome in Children: Preclinical and Clinical Evidence
- Gut Microbiota and Chronic Constipation: A Review and Update
- Fecal Microbiota and Diet of Children with Chronic Constipation
- Positive Effect of Probiotics on Constipation in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Six Randomized Controlled Trials
- The effect of fiber and prebiotics on children’s gastrointestinal disorders and microbiome
- Structural changes in the gut microbiome of constipated patients
- The efficacy and safety of probiotics for patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis based on seventeen randomized controlled trials
- Effect of dietary fiber on constipation: a meta analysis
- Dietary fiber mixture in pediatric patients with controlled chronic constipation
- Higher prevalence of joint hypermobility in constipation predominant irritable bowel syndrome
- Gastrointestinal and nutritional issues in joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type
- Partially hydrolyzed guar gum accelerates colonic transit time and improves symptoms in adults with chronic constipation
- Can partially hydrolyzed guar gum be an alternative to lactulose in treatment of childhood constipation?
- Partially hydrolyzed guar gum in pediatric functional abdominal pain
- Systematic review: the effect of prunes on gastrointestinal function
- Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ficus carica paste for the management of functional constipation
- Papaya preparation (Caricol®) in digestive disorders
- Butyric acid in functional constipation
Great article! My four year old suffers terribly and it is exhausting as a parent, and so hard to stay patient and positive. Laxatives have worked in short term bursts, but have also led to some disasters at school that I am desperate to avoid at all costs. We recently started on optibac gummies and I am going to try and work harder on keeping him eating fibre and fruit and veg…
I really hope the gummmies and the extra fibre, fruit and veg help – otherwise, we would love to help further.
Hi, my daughter has been constipated forever really I think, she’s 3. She had her bloods check and an ultra sound of her tummy – constipation of the lower cologne.
Her doctor has but her on laxido – we now have a poo issue, she will only go in her pants! I have bought all three of the below suggested supplements.
What 3 things? My 20 month son is really struggling… screams out in pain. I think he drinks enough water, has a good varied diet with plenty of fruit and veg. He’s started to see a chiropractor. They suggested goats milk, not cows milk – it was making a difference I thought or from what they had done but now not. GP gave him Cosmo Col sachets to go in his milk.
Hi Clare – poor little lad – my three top things would be adding two teaspoons of flax seed to his breakfast, give him 3 prunes a day and also give 1/2 to 1 flat teaspoon of PHGG prebiotic. Hopefully this will make things less painful and easier to go.
Hi Lucinda
Thanks for all your advice so far.
Would it be ok to give all three supplements suggested together? I started her on the gummies about a week ago.
Tia
If the constipation is quite marked and the bowel is not moving easily then you can try all three together.
Thank you for this helpful article. My 2.5yo is on 20ml lactulose per day and, although he seems less anxious about passing stools now and it seems less painful, he only goes twice per week and they are very large. He already has a high fibre diet with lots of water, fruit and veg. Many thanks
Great grandson very constipated screams with pain only 5 weeks old any help out there please
If breastfed, the first step would be to look to see if his mum is consuming any allergenic foods (dairy seems to be a key trigger). Also, try B Infantis probiotic by Biocare.
My 7 week old is exclusively breastfed and has a bowel movement every 4 to 5 days. Is there anything i can do to help her be more regular. I am using bio Gaia probiotic for her and now thinking I need to remove dairy from my diet and see if it helps.
Hi Manpreet – sorry to hear your little one is so bunged up – as well as the Biogaia I would probably trial a dairy free diet yourself for 3-4 weeks and see if it makes a difference. You can add in the PHGG from around 3 months if needed.